BOISE—Anthony Michael Payment, 21, of Caldwell, Idaho, was sentenced today in United States District Court to 60 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for possessing an unregistered firearm, a sawed-off shotgun, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Payment to forfeit the firearm and ammunition involved in the offense.

According to information presented in court, on August 19, 2013, officers responded to a residence in Nampa after learning that Payment threatened another person with the sawed-off shotgun. Nampa Police Department officers found the sawed-off shotgun at the residence, and Payment was arrested a short time later. The firearm Payment possessed was a Bay State, 20-gauge sawed-off shotgun with a barrel less than twelve inches in length. The National Firearms Act requires such a shotgun to be registered in the National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record if the barrel is less than eighteen inches in length. Payment had no firearms registered to him in the Record.

The case was investigated by the Idaho Department of Probation and Parole, the Nampa Police Department, the Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crimes Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Metro Task Force is comprised of federal, state and local agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Boise Police Department; Ada County Sheriff’s Office; Caldwell Police Department; Nampa Police Department; Meridian Police Department; Canyon County Sheriff’s Office; and Idaho Department of Probation and Parole.

Payment was prosecuted by the Special Assistant U.S. Attorney hired by the Treasure Valley Partnership and the State of Idaho to address gang crimes. The Treasure Valley Partnership is comprised of a group of elected officials in southwest Idaho dedicated to regional 2 coordination, cooperation, and collaboration on creating coherent regional growth. For more information, visit treasurevalleypartners.org.